Semi-natural habitat types provide different disservices in terms of weed infestations in European arable fields

There is an increasing interest in the conservation of semi-natural habitat (SNH) because they provide ecosystem services for crop production, environmental protection and society. However, their true value can only be estimated if also the level of disservices is known. The EU FP7 project QuESSA (Quantification of ecological services for sustainable agriculture), aims, among others, to assess disservices provided by semi-natural habitat types by quantifying weed densities and community composition in adjacent arable crops throughout Europe. Weed species have also been classified in relation to how problematic they are in arable crops and how desirable they may be for the provisioning of ecosystem services. Therefore in 2014 and 2015 a total of 62 sunflower fields were selected in Italy and Hungary. Weed composition was determined by scoring density and percentage cover of the species in 14 1m2 plots in each field about 3 weeks after main weed management practices were performed in the crop. The plots were positioned along 2 transects, 10 m apart, at increasing distances into the field. GLM and ANOVA showed that, total weed densities and weed cover were higher next to cropped margins in Hungary while in Italy adjacent SNH type did not affect these variables. The hypothesis that increased distance from the SNH decreases weed density of various weed groups (monocots, dicots, annual, and perennials) was confirmed in Italy but was not so clear in Hungary. In Italy increased weed species richness and abundance were found in fields surrounded by increasing SNH percentage in the 1km radius landscape sector. The preliminary analyses indicate that the response of weed communities to SNH is area specific.. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration.